Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Stocks Summary
NEW YORK - Investor ennui pushed stocks lower Monday as Wall Street nervously awaited a key decision on interest rates, the transfer of power in Iraq and next month's second-quarter earnings.

Fullerton stuns Miami, 6-3
OMAHA, Neb. - Ricky Romero threw a nine-hitter, and Felipe Garcia went 4-for-4 to lead Cal State Fullerton to a 6-3 victory against Miami in the College World Series on Monday night.

Tech won't draw fans with downgraded schedule
Upon the announcement of a Texas Tech football schedule for 2005 that includes seven home games, head coach Mike Leach, bemoaning the fact the Red Raiders have played several nonconference games on the road in recent years, made his pitch to the fans, stressing that attendance dictates the number of home games the school can sign.

Dillas rained out but not washed up
In the movie "Bull Durham," Kevin Costner's character Crash Davis turns on the sprinkler system of a road-trip ballpark to give the Durham Bulls a much-needed night off during a slump.

Panhandle People: Amarillo-area students receive honors at OU
Students from the Amarillo area were named to the honor roll at the University of Oklahoma in Norman for the spring 2004 semester. In most colleges at the university, students must earn a minimum grade-point average of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale and be enrolled in at least 12 credit hours. Students in the College of Architecture are recognized with a 3.3 GPA or better and those in the College of Engineering are recognized with a 3.0 GPA or better.

Dear Abby: Problem eats away at girl
Dear Abby: I am about 70 pounds overweight. When I try to diet I just give up. I feel like crying every night because of the way I look. The older I get, the more concerned I am about my weight problem, but I can't help myself.

Donley names extension agent
Mary Ruth Bishop of Lubbock became the family and consumer sciences agent with Texas Cooperative Extension in Donley County this month.

Affirmative Parenting: Study confirms long-held beliefs about TV
From the "I Told You So" Department: In 1979, I wrote a feature-length article for The Charlotte Observer (subsequently picked up by other newspapers) in which I opined that we knew enough about how the brain develops to conclude with reasonable certainty that television was bad for young children.

Dear Abby: Prenup sparks disagreement
Dear Abby: I am engaged to be married in six months. My fiance, "Ken," has presented me with a prenuptial agreement. We have been together for 5 years. I am 35 years old, and this may be my only shot at having my own family. I love Ken and want to spend the rest of my life with him.

Reunions
The Palo Duro High School Class of 1959 will have its last committee meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Calvary Baptist Church, 1300 E. Central Ave. The reunion is scheduled for July 16-17. Any interested classmates are welcome to attend the meeting.

Mickelson: America's lovable loser
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. - The fan was busy cheering Phil Mickelson, though not too busy to make his point. Behind the ropes off the fourth fairway, he lectured a passing writer.

Texas MLB: Rangers hook Marlins in 11
MIAMI - Hank Blalock hit a two-run homer in the 11th inning to give the Texas Rangers a 4-2 victory Sunday and a weekend sweep of the Florida Marlins.

MLB: Tampa Bay routs Arizona to extend streak to 11
Phoenix - Tino Martinez drove in five runs with a homer and a double, powering Tampa Bay to their 11th consecutive win with an 11-4 rout of Arizona. The Devil Rays are a major league-best 10-1 in interleague play and have won 21 of 27 games.

Healthy Griffey back on track
ST. LOUIS - If Ken Griffey Jr. can stay in the lineup, the next 100 home runs might come a lot easier than his 500th.

Griffey hits 500th
ST. LOUIS - Ken Griffey Jr. trotted around the bases as if it were just another home run. It was anything but that.

Astros rally in 5th inning to defeat Pirates, 7-5
HOUSTON - Lance Berkman hit a tying three-run double and Jeff Kent drove in the go-ahead run in a big fifth inning, helping the Houston Astros rally to a 7-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night.<

Pro Rodeo: Stephenville bull riders steal show
Dave Samsel edged Gilbert Carrillo by one-half point June 13 to claim the title at the Cabela's Classic, the 21st stop on the Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.

Athens torch makes stop in Montreal
MONTREAL - The torch for the Athens Games passed through the host city of the 1976 Summer Olympics on Sunday amid flag-waving crowds and ceremonies honoring the ancient Greeks.

Wimbledon Glance
A look at Wimbledon, which starts today at the All England Club:

She's still got it!
WIMBLEDON, England - The woman Martina Navratilova beat in her 1973 Wimbledon debut was back at the All England Club on Monday to watch her daughter's first-round match.

Schumacher wins U.S. Grand Prix
INDIANAPOLIS - Michael Schumacher was all business on the track Sunday. Off it, he was worried about his injured brother, Ralf.

Newman wins by the book
BROOKLYN, Mich. - As far as Ryan Newman is concerned, there is no controversy with the NASCAR rule book. While others gripe about all the quirks in the sport's new rules for caution periods, Newman's team continued to take advantage of those rules to win Sunday's DHL 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.

Are blockbuster deals on horizon?
HOUSTON - Houston Rockets point guard Steve Francis could soon be traded to the Orlando Magic for Tracy McGrady, the Houston Chronicle reported in its online edition Monday night.

Consent becomes focus for lawyers in Bryant case
EAGLE, Colo. - Kobe Bryant returned to court Monday for a two-day hearing that included sharp arguments over how to instruct the jurors who will decide whether the NBA star is guilty of sexual assault.

It's All Trew: Panhandle has plentiful wind
Few of Nature's elements have been cursed as much as the wind. Here in the Texas Panhandle, with nothing to slow it down, the wind is thoroughly cussed and discussed daily. If it blows too hard we complain about the damage and if it doesn't blow we complain because the windmills don't pump water for the livestock.

Volunteer Of The Day: Averi Raleigh
Volunteer Activities: A recent graduate of Tascosa High School, she helped plan and organize a talent show and Battle of the Bands for United Way Youth Leadership Day during her senior year.

Volunteer Of The Day: Bernadine Ghormley
Volunteer Activities: Ghormley has served with the Auxiliary since 1981. She enjoys working at the information desk, delivering flowers, answering the phones and giving information to the visitors.

Single File, Please
Antonio Rivera flags traffic over to one lane Monday afternoon as crews from J. Lee Milligan complete work on two lanes at the intersection of Western Street and Interstate 40. Traffic will be snarled in the area for the next week.

Visitors center planned
Pete Garcia is forever getting calls from people who want to know how to donate to the Texas Panhandle War Memorial.

Two men rob Chuck E. Cheese's
Two men robbed the Chuck E Cheese's pizza restaurant Sunday night, injuring three employees after they had closed for the night.

Celebration marks passage of time for patients
Willila Abell is a survivor. So are Anthony Pennington, Del Parker, George Sanders, Louise Trujillo, Walt Johnson and a host of others who faced cancer head-on and can still relate their experiences.

Storm brings damage and death
The rain, winds and hail from Monday night's storm caused at least one death as an Amarillo man died at Greenbelt Lake near Clarendon.

Lightning Awareness Week
Freddie Levens answers a lightning question Monday afternoon at a National Weather Service booth at Splash Amarillo Water Park.

A Day In The Life: Keeping it shipshape
Phyllis Payne strives to make every day a good day for her employees, herself and the guests at the Ambassador Hotel, 3100 W. Interstate 40, which she oversees.

Insurance program could drop 126,000 children
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has warned families their children will lose coverage in the Children's Health Insurance Program if they fail to pay the $15 per month premium.

Horsley: 'Ol Buddy Chaw McCuddy waxes cosmopolitan
ROME - Since we've been in Italy, I've had the weird feeling I would see someone I knew. Sure enough, last week we ran into my old pal Chaw McCuddy, who runs beeves up on the Canadian River. Chaw and his wife were on vacation with their two teenage grandkids. Small world.

Guest Column: Chipper no place for chicks
VOORHEESVILLE, N.Y. - As a practicing veterinarian who treats poultry, I would like to respond to Baxter Black's June 12 column defending the use of a wood chipper to kill 30,000 hens.

Monday Briefing
Man's best friend, indeed: Amarillo's Bryan Walton is lucky to be alive after a fire that engulfed his house Tuesday. Well, perhaps it was more than luck.

Other Opinion: Where is boundary between moral and legal?
Sen. John Kerry has been touched by some religious hardball lately. A story that has seen heavier play on the Internet than in the local news concerns Kerry's stance on abortion - opposed personally but in favor of a woman's right to choose - and the coercive reaction of the Catholic Church. One byproduct of Kerry's position is that he can't receive the sacrament of holy communion.

Perry off to Mexico to push job creation
AUSTIN - As he prepared to travel to Mexico to talk about investment and job creation, Gov. Rick Perry predicted Monday that his four-day trade mission will send positive messages to the business world.

State Democrats call for return of troops from Iraq
HOUSTON - The Texas Democratic Party state convention seemed more like a peace rally Saturday, with the party faithful calling for peace in Iraq and carrying banners demanding that the administration "Bring our troops back."

Man taken off bus for terroristic threats
HOUSTON - A 37-year-old man remained jailed Sunday, a day after authorities removed him from a bus traveling from Dallas to New Orleans for allegedly making terroristic threats against other passengers, the driver and President Bush.

New rules fight surgery mixups
WASHINGTON - Starting July 1, operating rooms are supposed to be a little safer: Surgical teams must take new steps to prevent operating on the wrong body part or wrong patient.

Actress Dowling die
LOS ANGELES - Doris Dowling, the brunette actress who made her screen debut as the hooker in Billy Wilder's classic 1945 drama "The Lost Weekend," died Friday. She was 81.

In The World: Assailants seize ministry offices
CHERMEN, Russia - Heavily armed militants launched coordinated attacks against police headquarters, border checkpoints and government offices in a Russian region bordering warring Chechnya, authorities said Tuesday. At least 22 people were killed, including three high-ranking officials, and dozens were wounded.

Army judge allows questioning leader of U.S. forces in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. Army judge on Monday accepted a request by attorneys of soldiers accused of abusing detainees in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison to question the commander of U.S. military forces in the Middle East, as well as several other top commanders and their subordinates.

Check This Out
McMINNVILLE, Tenn. - A motorist's decision to stop a deputy for speeding escalated into a series of incidents than ended with his entire family joining him in jail.

Nominee has no license in Utah
SALT LAKE CITY - President Bush's choice for a judgeship recently regained his license to practice law in Washington, D.C., but lacks a law license in Utah, where he provides legal counsel to Brigham Young University.

Former editor dies
WEST CORNWALL, Conn. - Spencer Klaw, an author and former editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, died June 3. He was 84.

Saudi security seeks militants
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - Police cars and armored vehicles flooded the al-Malaz neighborhood in the Saudi capital Sunday as security forces surrounded a house where suspected militants were thought to have taken refuge after a shootout with police.

Korean hostage pleads for life, troop withdrawl
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The Arab satellite TV network Al-Jazeera aired a videotape Sunday purportedly from al-Qaida-linked militants showing a South Korean hostage begging for his life and pleading with his government to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Church has first service since drownings
CHICAGO - Members of a church Sunday mourned four parishioners - including three children - who drowned in a Texas garden pool last week, taking comfort in their faith amid the shock of their loss.

Statement stirs debate
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the Sept. 11 commission said Sunday that al-Qaida had much more interaction with Iran and Pakistan than it did with Iraq, underscoring a controversy about the Bush administration's insistence there was collaboration between the terrorist organization and Saddam Hussein.

Co-founder of IHOP dies
LOS ANGELES - Al Lapin Jr., an entrepreneur who co-founded the International House of Pancakes with a single restaurant in 1958, has died. He was 76.

Clinton talks of failures in his 'Life'
NEW YORK - President Bush erred in not allowing U.N. inspectors to finish their search for weapons of mass destruction before attacking Iraq, but he is on the right track now in attempting to stabilize the country, former President Clinton said Sunday in an interview on CBS' "60 Minutes."

Deaths In The News
TULSA, Okla. - Daniel Croskery, the voice of the NBC television network, "Bewitched" and countless other clients, died Sunday. He was 65.

Check This Out
CLINTON, Tenn. - When Clifton Moneymaker rented a mobile home to a couple with three children, he didn't expect them to use it for cooking methamphetamine.

Algerian troops kill wanted militant
ALGIERS, Algeria - Troops killed one of North Africa's most wanted Islamic militants, who had sought to link his bloody insurgent movement in Algeria to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network, the military said Sunday.

Sentencing guidelines unconstitutional, judge says
BOSTON - In a scathing criticism of the system used to punish federal crimes, a judge on Monday called the government's sentencing guidelines unconstitutional, saying they unfairly limit the authority of judges.